Sheet feeding machines



Aug. 30, 1960 H. T. BACKHOUSE SHEET FEEDING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet lFiled July 2, 19 58 1 lid Aug. 30, 1960 H. T, BAcKHousE SHEET FEEDINGMACHINES 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed July 2, 1958 2,950,916 snEET FEEDINGMACHINES Headley Townsend Backhouse, Les Rayons, Corsy-Conversion,Switzerland Filed July 2, 1958, Ser. N- 746,136 Claims priority,application Great'Britain July 8, 1957 3 Claims. '(Cl. 271- 0 Theinvention relatesto sheet feeding machines of the kind in which sheetsare fed in succession (eg. as a continuous stream of partly overlappingsheets) over a feed-table where registration of the front edge of eachsheet in turn is obtained by'eng'agement of the edge against one or'morefront lays which are then removed to enable the registered sheet to beremoved to a printing or other machine operating on individual sheets.Side registration of the sheets may also be effected while on the feedtable. The invention is concerned with improvements in the front laysand their operating mechanism is such a machine.

The invention provides a sheet feeding machine of the above kindembodying front lay mechanism comprising a front lay supported forrocking movements about an axis extending beneath the table horizontallyand transversely to the feeding direction, from an upright operativeposition of the lay in which it projects above the table downwardly toan inoperative position in which it lies out of the path of a sheetbeing removed from the table, a rocker arm extending rearwardly beneaththe table with at one end an operative connection to the lay fortranslating rocking movements of the arm into rocking movements of thelay, in at least one direction of the movement of the lay, and meansoperative on the other end of the arm for imparting rocking movement tothe arm.

The invention also provides a sheet feeding machine of the above kindhaving a detachable front lay unit comprising a bracket with readilyreleasable means for attachment to the machine, a front lay supported bythe bracket for rocking movements about an axis extending beneath thetable horizontally and transversely to the feeding direction, from anupright operative position of the lay in which it projects above thetable to an inoperative position in which it lies out of the path of asheet being removed from the table, and lay-operating means carried bysaid bracket for co-operation with a constantly rotatable cam shaftforming a non-detachable part of the machine, for translating therotational motion of the shaft into rocking movements as aforesaid ofthe lay.

The lay-operating means aforesaid may comprise a rocker arm as abovedescribed having at one end an operative connection to the lay and atthe other end means for co-operating with the cam shaft for efiectingthe rocking movements of the arm.

In a preferred arrangement the.braoket aforesaid constitutes adetachable and interchangeable-section of a feed table or plateconstructed substantially as described in British specification No.777,432.

A specific construction of a sheet feeding machine embodying theinvention will now be described, by way of example and with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a simplified plan view showing one side of the feed table ofthe machine,

.Ufl State Patent 2,950,916 Patented Aug. 30, 1960 Figure 2 is a sideview, partly" broken away, of one of the front lay units, and

Figure 3 is a plan view, also partly broken away, of the front lay unit.

The machine forming the subject of thislexample has a feed table 10 overwhich sheets are fedfrom a conveyor, as a continuous stream; to frontlays 11.

The feed table is constructed in sections-10a,-10b, 10c, 10d and 10e.Thesections aresupported on crossbars 14, 15 and 16 secured at theirends inside frames 17. The centre section 10d is fixed to the-cross-barswhereas sections 10m and 10b' are readily removable. The remainingsections (i.e. 10c andl0e) are slidable along the bars to differentpositions of adjustment. A0 cordingly, the effective width of the tableand the number and separation of the front lays 11 maybe varied. Thesection 10e carries side-lay mechanism indicated diagrammatically at 18,the details of this mechanism forming no part of the present invention.The sections 10c, one at each side of the table, carry slow-downdevicesfor slowing down the movement of the sheets before they contact thefront lays 10. Thesedevices are dmcribed in more detailin'myspecification Serial No. 746,147 filed July 2, 1958.

The machine as shown in the drawings has six'sections 10a carrying frontlays which are allof like construction and only one will be described.The section comprises a casting 20 whichis of generally channel form.Withinone end of the casting there is a bizfurcated hook 21 whichengages over the cross-bar 16 and near the other end there is an angleportion 22 which engages over the bar 14. A spring pressed plunger 23engages the bar 14 and urges the section towards the right as viewed inFigure 2, this being in the direction against the movement of the sheetstowards the lays. A plate 25 engages the underside of bar 14 and issecured to the casting. A screw 26 is engageable in any of a number ofholes 27 spaced along the bar 16 and'serves not only to hold the sectionin its adjusted position along the bar but also as a means for adjustingthe position of the lays 11 in the direction of sheet movement. Thus,tightening of the screw will move the whole unit, including the' lays,to the left, whereas on loosening of the screw the unit will be moved tothe right by the action of plunger 23.

The lays 11 are carried at the ends of the arms 30 of a forked lever 31,the lever having a fulcrum 32. At the other end, the lever has a pivotalsliding connection 33 to a second lever 34. This lever has a roller 36which runs on a constantly rotatable shaft 37, the shaft being supportedin the side frames 17. The shaft is formed, along its length, with aflat 38 and accordingly acts as a cam which rocks the lever 34 which, inits turn, rocks lever 31 to raise and lower the lays 11. The lays movedownwardly from the position shown, until they lie beneath the level ofthe top of the table (i.e. below the top of the casting 20). A spring 39operating through a plunger 40 elfects upward movement of the connection33 and the downward movement of the lays.

The unit also includes a detector for determining if no sheet'is presentat the lays at the proper time. This detector comprises a finger 45which is located between the arms 30 and has near its upper end a hook46. This hook is arranged for engagement with the upper surface of aprojection 47 from the front of the casting 20. The finger is pivoted toa lever 48 keyed to and slidable along a shaft 49. A spring 50 urges thehook 46 into position over the projection 47. When so positioned theupper end of the finger lies in front of the lays for engagement by asheet. If a sheet arrives at the lays at the correct time, it will pushthe finger back out of position for engagement of the hook with theprojection and the finger may be moved downwardly with the lays, thismovement being etfected by rocking motion of shaft 49. If, on theotherhand, the finger is not moved by a sheet, then the hook will engage theprojection and downward movement will be prevented. The effect will bethat shaft 49 will not be. rocked at the proper time and the trip orwarning device will be operated in known manner. Furthermore screw 52will prevent the lays 1 at the proper time, the detector operates toretain the lays in their raised position and so to prevent a sheet whicharrives late and when the lays would normally have been lowered, fromovershooting the registering position.

I claim:

1. A sheet feeding machine comprising a feed table over and across whichsheets are fed in succession, a machine frame supporting the table, aconstantly rotatable shaft which extends horizontally and transverselyof the feeding direction of the sheets, is carried by said frame and isof non-circular cross-section over a substantial portion of its lengththereby to constitute a cam and a front lay unit which is removable assuch from the frame and comprises a bracket, readily releasable meansfor attachment of the bracket to the machine frame, a front laysupported by the bracket for rocking movement about an axis extendingbeneath the table parallel to the said shaft from an upright operativeposition of the lay in which it projects above the plane of the tabledownwardly to an inoperative position in which it lies out of the pathof the sheets leaving the table and lay-operating means carried by saidbracket and arranged for co-operation with said cam for translating therotational movement of the shaft into rocking movements as aforesaid ofthe lay.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the layoperating meanscomprise a rocker lever extending beneath the bracket and supportedthereby for rocking movement about an axis located between and parallelto the shaft and the aforesaid rocking axis of the front lay and havingat one end a connection to the lay operative to translate rockingmovements of the lever into rocking movements of the lay and at theother end means co-operating with the cam for effecting the rockingmovements of the lever.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the bracket is conducted toconstitute a detachable section of the table surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,208,044 Ormond et a1. July 16, 1940 2,221,500 Upham Nov. 12, 19402,405,947 Gettig et al. Aug. 20, 1946 2,741,479 Backhouse Apr. 10, 19562,849,234 Rowlands et al. Aug. 26, 1958

